Blasting.



Patented DBO. il, I900. N.

[L 5 BRYANT 81. C. H. BRGW BLASTHQG. (Application filed 12m. 24, 1899.)

(No Model.)

A 770m rs.

CALEB F.

BRYANT AND CHARLES H. BROlVN, OF CRlPPLE CREEK,

COLORADO.

BLAST ENG:

To 11,137 Lo/wot if mo concern.

lSeit known that we, CALEB l BRYANTand CHARLES H. linowx, t CrippleCreek, in the county of El Pasoandiztateol' Colorado, have invented anew and useful Improvement in Blasting, oi'wvhic'n the following is afull, clear, and exact description.

The object of the invention is toprovidc certain new and useful im'irovcments in blast ing whereby a plurality of charges are tiredsuccessivclyfroin a tiring source common to all the charges, so that thecharge in any desired drill-hole (usually the weakest) is firstexploded, that desired to go next (which is usually the next strongerone) following at an interval of time, and so on until all the chargesare exploded, and the minor is enabled to count the reports of thesuccessive explo ions to make suie that all the charges have exploded,and if not he can readily locaic an unexploded charge to avoid drillinginio the same and accidentally exploding it to the injury oi himself:and those around.

The invention consists of novel features and parts and cirnhinations olthe same, as will be fully described hereinafter and then pointed out inthe claims.

A pract'cai cinbodiinent of our invention is repre.-;cnicd intheaccompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in whichsimilar characters oi rcfcrcncc indicatc corresponding par i 1 bothviews.

Figure l is a .l-llillill sidrelevation of the iinprorcmcnt, and Fig. :3is an enlarged soc tional side elevation of the primary igniting device.

it dynamo, ol elect rii' LiWlt-Plz fl z 2 the riitllil,

imary ig'n" l'nsis l) i)' l) ha; Kory, orothcrsuitablo source ill ncctcdby t Wire ll with it A olc'itric current through wirc ll la connectedwith :rices ,7 (15 for igniting lvely, having ordinary cl ps E in coniiii the charge to be igd and l'mttcd in the (ll'llllli lU. Tho prixaryl"'lllllll" dc'-;icc shown in the drawings hell if", containing in itsupper I of wood or other insulating d the lower end of the shell on D gs the upper end of the Fuse 1), D, or 1), and -ieirw nni the top of thefuse and the botol' the ping C is arranged a thin diakif l l l l i 1PEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Eatent No. 663,724, dated December11, 1960.

Application filed March 24,1899.

Serial No. 710,363. No model.)

of tin-foil or other metal to lessen the resistance of the air-spacebetween the terminals '3" ll of the wire ll, a small amount of blackpowder or other combustible material C being arranged between the diskand the upper end of the fuse l).

lhrough the plug 1 and the disk C extend 01' a spark-producer B,

the tcrn'iinals B l3 forming part of the electric circuit, thelowor endsof the terminals extcndingintothocoinbustiblc material C.

Now when a current is sent through the wire 13 it passes from oneterminal to the other by way of the disk 0'', and as the latter isextremely thin it can carry buta small amount of the current, and iteither burns out or causes a spark from one terminal to l the other, sothat in cither case the combustible material C" is ignited and the fuseD is thcrcbylightcd. Nowit is evidentthat when an electric current issent through the wire 1- the several igniting devices (3 U G aresimultaneously ignited, and consequently the several l'uscs l) I) D areset olf. The fuses l) l) l) are made of dilfcrent lengths, the shortestfuse leading to the chargcdcsired to explode ll rst, which is usually inthe weakest drill-holc -tiiat is, one that will break the asicat-and thenext longer fuse is connectcd with the drillholc desired to explodenext, which is usually the next stronger drill-hole, and so on, so thatthe several )XDlOSlVO charges in the various drill-holes are exploded atintervals and according to the length of the fuses.

It is evident that by the arrangement described the operator is enabledto readily count the reports of the several explosions as they takeplace at intervals, and in case one charge docs not explode tho operatorknows by the interval of time that has elapsed between the preceding andthe following charge which one of the charges has not exploded. Thus theoperator is enabled to locate the unexploded charge lozwoiddrilling intothe same and accidentally exploding the charge.

lSy using tin-foil as a partial conductor for the electric curro'nt inthe primary igniter a positive ignition is always insured, and [00 moreprimary ignitcrs can be set oll at the same time by an electric curl-cutof a git on.

conductor were omitted. The shells C reuder the primary ignitersmoisture-proof to prevent the danger of the formation of a shortcircuit, especially as the ends of the shells O are securely crimped onthe plugs and the fuses.

An ordinary cap E is generally used when dynamite or the like forms theexplosive charge in the drill-hole; but in case gunpowder or likeexplosive is used for blasting then the cap E may be dispensed with andthe lower end of the fuse I), D, or D may be directly extended into thegunpowder or like explosive, which is then ignited when the burning fusereaches the powder.

It is understood that by the arrangement described a miner has absolutecontrol of the explosion of the charges and may have any one or any setof charges set off at different times and still connect the same inseries, allowing, say, ten to fifteen or any number of seconds to elapsebetween successive charges.

Having thus fully described our invention, we claim as new and desire tosecure by Let.- ters l-atent r 1. A blasting device, provided with afuse, a primary igniting device for the fuse comprisinga shell engagedby the fuse, terminals forming part of an electric circuit and extendinginto the said shell, a disk of metallic foil connecting the terminals,and a combustible material arranged between the disk and the fuse,substantially as described.

2. A blasting device, consisting of an electric circuit comprising asource of electricity, a single leading-in wire, asingle return-Wire, aplurality of primary igniting devices, connected in series in the saidcircuit and set off simultaneously by the electric current, the saidprimary igniting ing a shell engaging a fuse at one end, a plug ofinsulating material in the otherend of the shell, terminals forming partof the electric circuit and extending through the said plug, a disk ofmetallic foil located between the indevices each comprisner end of theplug and the fuse and c0nnect--.

ing the said terminals, and combustible materialarranged between thedisk and the fuse, the said fuses being of different lengths,substantially as described.

CALEB F. BRYANT. CHARLES H. BROWN; Witnesses:

CLINTON S. FLETCHER, JOHN ALISON.

